A bookstore owner, a retired cop and a sausage maker are among the 11 candidates looking to fill one vacant seat on the Louisville City Council.

The position opened up last month after Bob Muckle won the mayoral race and moved up from his Ward I seat. The city advertised the vacancy and accepted applications through the middle of this week.

The hopefuls will sit down for 20-minute interviews with council members Wednesday, Dec. 7, and the council is expected to choose its seventh member Dec. 13.

Some of the names on the list are familiar — residents who serve or have served on city commissions and boards — while others are taking their first stab at elected office.

One candidate, Bill Scanlon, is fresh off an attempt to win the other Ward I seat on the council. He lost to Jay Keany in the Nov. 1 election, with 45 percent of the vote.

“A lot of people who did vote for me asked me if I would apply for the vacancy,” Scanlon said.

While he may have been on the public’s radar as recently as a month ago, he said he hasn’t lived in Louisville as long as many of the applicants.

“They probably have better name recognition, and I have more recent name recognition,” Scanlon said. “So it’s probably a wash.”

The old-timers he’s up against include Michael Deborski, who owns Old Style Sausage and has lived his entire life in Louisville. Deborski, 48, ran against Muckle in Ward I in 2005 and lost.

“I do have a good feeling for what local business people are saying,” he said.

Deborski, who served on Louisville’s planning commission, said he wants to see development “done properly” and the successes of downtown replicated elsewhere in the city.

Michael Menaker, a 24-year resident, also lost to Muckle in an election, his in 2009. The retired marketing partner, who shows up for just about every City Council meeting and serves on the Louisville Revitalization Commission and the city’s Business Retention & Development Committee, counts revitalization of the Colo. 42 corridor and the city’s urban renewal district as top priorities.

But he said progress in that part of the city is hampered by the troubles the Regional Transportation District faces in securing funding for its FasTracks commuter rail project, which will include a depot in Louisville.

“The property owners are on hold, and they are waiting for a time table from RTD,” Menaker said.

Anne Tengler, who until last year was owner of a chain of Spanish-language movie theaters and has never served in a public role in Louisville, said her expertise in finding the right sites for cinemas could be helpful to a city desperate to fill several vacant big-box spaces.

The mother of three, who has lived in Louisville for 12 years, said she took the last year off for some “self-reflection” and quickly concluded that observing the city from the sidelines wasn’t as gratifying as getting involved.

“I really enjoy that level of engagement,” Tengler said.

The first thing the new member of the council will be engaged in is casting the deciding vote on the city’s next mayor pro tem. At the council’s Nov. 15 meeting, it deadlocked 3-3 between Councilwoman Frost Yarnell and Councilman Hank Dalton.

Louisville Ward 1 candidates

David Baumgarten, president and owner of BlueModus Inc.

Barbara Butterworth, owner of The Book Cellar

Michael Deborski, owner of Old Style Sausage

Michell Irving, retired University of Colorado police officer

Emily Jasiak, public relations specialist for New Leaf Public Relations

Sherri Lancton, instructional designer at the University of Northern Colorado

Michael Menaker, retired marketing partner

Paige Rodriguez, homemaker

Bill Scanlon, science writer for the National Renewable Energy Laboratory

Anne Tengler, president of Sonora Media Group

Bob Tofte, salesman at McGuckin Hardware

What’s next:

Each applicant will interview with the City Council for 20 minutes starting at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 7, at Louisville City Hall, 749 Main St.